The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Wednesday deferred its planned grand rally in Dhaka to Friday, rejecting a police request to hold it at Golapbag field instead of Naya Paltan central office premises or Suhrawardy Udyan.
Minutes after the BNP decision, three affiliated bodies of the ruling Awami League also deferred today’s ‘peace rally’ to Friday.
At a press conference at the BNP chairperson’s Gulshan office, the party’s secretary general, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, said that they would now hold the grand rally on Friday at 2:00pm in front of the party’s Naya Paltan central office.
‘The metropolitan police authorities objected to holding a rally in Suhrawardy Udyan, citing the High Court’s objection and on the pretext of public suffering at Naya Paltan on the work day. However, in the past, there have been many instances of holding numerous rallies at Suhrawardy Udyan and in Naya Paltan on work days,’ Fakhrul said at the press conference.
He requested the party leaders and activists to join the rally on Friday.
He alleged that the police were conducting raids on city hotels and houses to arrest BNP leaders and activists.
Fakhrul also sought cooperation from the government institutions for their rally on Friday.
Three affiliated bodies of the ruling Awami League—the Juba League, Chhatra League, and Swechchasebak League—were quick to follow the BNP.
‘We shifted our programme on Friday as the police suggested the ground was not ready for a rally,’ Swechchasebak League acting president Gazi Mesbaul Hossain Shachchu told New Age.
The ruling groups earlier shifted their rally from July 24 to July 27 after the BNP chose the day for their grand rally.
Earlier, police denied both the Awami League and BNP permission to hold rallies in their desired places, claiming to avoid violence.
‘Some nine parties, including the Awami League and BNP, wanted to hold rallies within a one-kilometre area, which could be a reason for violence. That’s why police asked them to relocate rally venues,’ Dhaka Metropolitan Police spokesperson Faruk Hossain told New Age.
The DMP asked BNP to hold their rally at Golapbag field and AL to hold their ‘peace rally’ at Dhaka University gymnasium field or Agargaon trade fair ground, the police officer said.
Originally, BNP requested the police for security arrangements as the party wanted to hold their rally either in front of the party’s Naya Paltan central office or in front of Suhrawardy Udyan and AL at the south gate of the Baitul Mukarram National Mosque.
DMP commissioner Khandaker Golam Faruk urged the political parties to hold their programmes without causing public suffering, warning that they might impose a ban on political rallies if they made people suffer.
Revealing that nine parties had applied for the rally, he said that only a few would be allowed.
‘Holding political rallies is a democratic right of the political parties, but it is the responsibility of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police to ensure the security of people,’ he said while talking to reporters after inspecting the overall security measures on the occasion of Holy Ashura over the Tazia procession.
He also urged political parties to plan their programmes on weekly holidays instead of working days, considering public suffering.
He also said that carrying sticks and bags to the rallies would be prohibited.
Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader said on Wednesday that the BNP would have to take responsibility if the peaceful environment was destroyed and public safety was disrupted in the name of their movement.
In a statement issued today, Quader said, ‘We call upon the BNP to refrain from such conspiracy and face people by participating in the election.’
He said that his party would deal with the BNP if they tried to carry out any kind of terrorism or violence in the name of the movement.
Politicians and political analysts feared confrontation over the announcement of counter-events by political parties in the city on the same day.
As part of the simultaneous movement to oust Sheikh Hasina’s government, other opposition parties also rescheduled their Thursday events.
‘We have decided to defer our prescheduled programme as we are on a simultaneous movement,’ Ganatantra Mancha spokesperson Saiful Haque told New Age.
Earlier, Ganatantra Mancha, a combine of six political parties, Gono Forum faction, the Bangladesh Peoples Party, the Gono Odhikar Parishad led by Nurul Haque Nur, the Gono Odhikar Parishad led by Reza Kibria, the Democratic Left Alliance, the 12-party alliance, the Labour Party, and the National Democratic Party, declared programmes along with the BNP with the same demand.
Similarly, the Amar Bangladesh Party rescheduled its programme, although Islami Andolan Bangladesh did not immediately change its rally on Thursday.
According to New Age correspondents from different districts, hundreds of BNP leaders and activists have travelled to Dhaka in the past few days to join the party’s grand rally.
After the police asked the BNP to hold their rally at Golapbag field, Fakhrul and some other senior party leaders held an emergency meeting at the party central office on Wednesday.
Additional police were deployed in front of the BNP office while the meeting was underway, and a few hundred BNP leaders and activists also gathered there.
The BNP leaders later left the office and also asked the awaiting activists to leave the area.
Responding to the party’s leaders’ instructions, the activists left the area immediately.
The police’s proposed venue for the BNP rally Golapbag came to prominence when the BNP was forced to hold their divisional rally there on December 10 instead of Naya Paltan.
Police arrested some 200 BNP leaders and activists, including Fakhrul, standing committee member Mirza Abbas, and senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, ahead of the December 10 rally.
At least one BNP activist was killed in clashes after police launched a crackdown at the BNP office on December 7.
